No escaping school fees case

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge drew a bright line Wednesday on Gov. Jerry Brown’s goal of shifting control over education decisions from Sacramento to local districts. What the state can’t do is pawn off its constitutional duty ensuring that California’s children get their fundamental right to a free education, Judge Carl West indicated in a terse tentative ruling. He is expected to elaborate on and finalize the ruling within the next few days. (Update:Judge West issued his final decision, confirming his tentative ruling, this morning. The state has 20 days to respond to his finding.)

The ruling marks a clear victory for plaintiffs who hadsued the state and state education officials for failing to crack down on school districts that illegally charge students school fees ranging from payments for sports uniforms and textbooks to lab materials and AP tests. It’s a common practice that has become more prevalent as budget-strapped districts have sought ways to save money – often at the expense of low-income families that can’t afford the extra fees.

State officials didn’t dispute that these violations have occurred; the ACLU of Southern California had presented indisputable documentation. But, reversing the conciliatory position of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Brown administration argued that the state, the State Board of Education, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the State Department of Education – all named in the lawsuit – had no enforcement responsibility. If there are violations, sue the local districts, which have the power and authority to fix the problem, argued the Attorney General’s office on behalf of state officials.

But West didn’t buy it and cited a 20-year-old state Supreme Court decision (Butt v. State of California) that reaffirmed that the state bears the responsibility to see that districts provide an equal opportunity to an education.

West’s expected final ruling will mean that the class-action lawsuit that the ACLU filed two years ago on behalf of unnamed students will go to trial – which Schwarzenegger, in his final days as governor, had hoped to avoid through a settlement. Schwarzenegger encouraged the passage of AB 165, sponsored by Assemblyman Ricardo Lara (D-South Gate). It would have created a complaint process for parents and students who believed they had been charged illegal fees, and would have required districts to conduct annual compliance audits. If auditors concluded that a school district had charged illegal fees, it would be required to reimburse parents. The monitoring was modeled after terms in the Williams v. State of California lawsuit, which Schwarzenegger had also settled out of court, ensuring low-income schools had certificated teachers, clean buildings, and adequate textbooks.

AB 165 passed the Assembly 51-24 and the Senate 23-15 last fall. But Brown vetoed it, saying it took “the wrong approach” to district compliance. It “would mandate that every single classroom in California post a detailed notice and that all 1,042 school districts and over 1,200 charter schools follow specific complaint, hearing and audit procedures, even when there have been no complaints, let alone any evidence of violation. This goes too far.”

Case law and evidence will not be on the state’s side in a full trial. In the 1984 decision, Hartzell v. Connell, the state Supreme Court ruled that that districts must cover the costs of school-sponsored activities as well as regular academic classes. Allowable charges are few, such as arts materials that students take home.

Assuming a quick verdict, Brown could negotiate different terms for a monitoring system, or perhaps the State Board and Department of Education could establish monitoring through regulations.

Author: John Fensterwald - Educated Guess

John Fensterwald, a journalist at the Silicon Valley Education Foundation, edits and co-writes "Thoughts on Public Education in California" (www.TOPed.org), one of the leading sources of California education policy reporting and opinion, which he founded in 2009. For 11 years before that, John wrote editorials for the Mercury News in San Jose, with a focus on education. He worked as a reporter, news editor and opinion editor for three newspapers in New Hampshire for two decades before receiving a Knight Fellowship at Stanford University in 1997 and heading West shortly thereafter. His wife is an elementary school teacher and his daughter attends the University California at Davis.
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Welcome to the NEW TOP-Ed!

After a brief hiatus, SVEF’s education blog, Thoughts on Public Education (TOP-Ed), is back in a new format. The blog will focus on deep analysis of education issues, especially as they relate to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). These entries will attempt to translate complex education topics for readers as well as invite bloggers representing different perspectives to respond to our entries. We will also invite guest contributors to share their ideas about education along the way. We invite you to stay tuned to the new TOP-Ed.

We thank journalists John Fensterwald and Kathryn Baron for their work on TOP-Ed over the past three years. Their tireless efforts have successfully established TOP-Ed as a forum to present and discuss key education issues of the day. We wish them the best of luck continuing their excellent brand of journalism at EdSource and encourage you to keep up with them at edsource.org.